Media
About Julia Packwood
Julia Packwood is the founder of Nurturing Wild Ltd, an Early Years education specialist in nature-based outdoor play. She is a consultant and trainer with over 20 years’ experience in education as a primary school teacher, senior leader and is a qualified Forest School leader.
She brings her wealth of experience, passion and knowledge of outdoor learning together with her own experiences as a mum to her mission of inspiring parents and educators to get outside with their children and reconnect with nature.
A Trusted Voice in Nature-Based Early Years Education
Julia has extensive knowledge about learning through outdoor play (in the Early Years) and connecting children with nature. As a speaker, podcast guest and guest writer for blogs and articles, Julia will eloquently share her views and experiences tailored to a parent audience and/or education professionals.
Julia has written articles which have been featured in national parenting magazines, written guest blogs for an education toy company and appeared on Early Years education industry podcasts such as ‘The Voice of Early Childhood.’ Julia is also a speaker at in-person events and virtual webinars.
Topics include:
The importance of nature connection during childhood and beyond
The Forest School approach
Seasonal nature-based play activities
As featured in
About Nurturing Wild
Let Nature Spark the Play!
Nurturing Wild is on a mission to inspire parents and educators to play outdoors with their children and reconnect with nature.
Nurturing Wild offers outdoor nature-based play sessions for families with children under 5 years of age in South East London. Nurturing Wild also delivers Early Years outdoor education training and consultancy for nurseries, pre-schools and other education settings.
Speaker Opportunities
With her extensive teaching background, Julia has many years of experience speaking to a crowd. She is keen to use her voice to speak about the important issues around childhood, the potential impact of a nature-deficit childhood, the importance of outdoor play and how we can all benefit our health, wellbeing and the planet by spending more time outdoors in nature.
Speaker at education industry events
Corporate keynote speaker
Images © Picture Partnership
Speaker Testimonial
“Julia enlightened the audience with her tips on getting out in nature, when she was a keynote speaker for Beckenham Business Day. She is an engaging speaker, who presents her perspective clearly and has extensive knowledge of early-years outdoor education and the benefits of outdoor play for children and adults alike.”
I thoroughly enjoyed chatting with Julia on our Early Years TV session, she is professional, passionate and knowledgeable.
Speaker Topics
Alongside her keynote: ‘Let nature spark the play!’ Julia can talk about a wide range of topics related to nature connection and child development including:
‘A nature-deficit childhood’ – how it impacts children’s health and wellbeing
Early Years education and the importance of nature-based outdoor play
Oracy – how outdoor play supports early communication and language
The joy of reading – using nature-themed high quality picture books and non-fiction texts to support learning
Wellbeing for all through nature connection
Sustainability and supporting children to learn about wildlife
Parenting
Please download my media pack. If you have any further questions or would like to discuss your project, please contact me directly.
Podcast Guest
Julia has featured as a guest on industry podcasts, such as ‘The Voice of Early Childhood’. She has delivered workshops to nursery education providers to highlight the importance of children playing outdoors and connecting with the natural world.
On this particular feature, the topic was 'A Nature Deficit Childhood' discussion based on an article I researched and wrote.
Writing articles and blogs
Alongside Julia’s speaker topics, she can use her expertise to write about a broad range of articles around supporting children’s learning and development, aimed at parents, educators or a wider general audience.
Julia has written articles to encourage families to be inspired to spend time outdoors in nature for publications such as 'Family First', the number 1 magazine for families in the UK. She creates engaging content on social media and has partnered with education brands such as the summer 'Big School' ready through outdoor play series with Learning Resources UK.
Articles based on key topics
Guest blog posts
Guest social media posts
As Featured in
Family First magazine:
'Love Our Earth’ article, pages 38 - 39
'Learn, Play and Explore’ article, pages 66 - 69
‘Autumn Adventures’ article, pages 76 -79
Learning Resources UK
Guest blog article: ‘What is Forest School?’
Guest blog article: ‘Top Gifts for Nature Explorers’
Guest blog article: ‘Halloween in the Woods’
Social Media
Nurturing Wild has a growing audience on Instagram, Facebook, You Tube Shorts and Substack. Julia has worked on collaborative posts for creating engaging visuals in video and photograph formats to champion nature-based outdoor play in all-weathers.
Learning Resources UK ‘Big School Ready’ summer challenge
Supporting parents with children starting ‘Big School’ through outdoor play brand collaboration with Learning Resources UK.
Collaborations
Brand Collaborations: Julia only collaborates with brands which align with the values of Nurturing Wild, celebrating play, nature connection and family time outdoors. She works with a very limited number of brands per year.
Charity Collaborations
Julia is keen to support and help be a voice championing childhood and recognises the importance of protecting wildlife.